Right before Bruce Hornsby sits down at the piano and dazzles the crowd with his famous spider fingers, he walks over to the edge of the stage and scoops up a fresh pile of handwritten song requests, art pieces, love notes and other messages from the very audience he’s about to play for.

Because while he was in the green room relaxing, individual fans got up from their seats, put down their drinks, walked up to the front of the stage and personally delivered a gift that they spent time preparing for the man himself.That’s anticipatory engagement.

Right after Henry Rollins finishes one of his trademark spoken word shows – none of which last less than two hours themselves – he towels off, chugs a few bottles of water and heads outside to the tour bus where he shakes hands, answers questions, signs autographs, snaps pictures and has a real conversation with every single person in line.

Because while he was on stage sharing eclectic stories, dropping disturbing ideas and asking hard questions, listeners dreamed of nothing more than to look him in the eye and tell him that his voice was the music they’d been waiting their whole lives to hear.

That’s the second bite of the apple.

If we want to extend the life of our act for the audience, we need both.

Because the best performances are the ones that start long before the audience gets to the theater, but last long after the audience has left.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…Are you perfecting or extending?

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